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MICHAEL DAVIS: The Emperor’s New Clothes

News
April 7, 2007

I don’t really have a subject for this week, which explains why I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon with a Friday morning deadline. Sorry, Mike. Nothing really ticked me off or got me excited this week. That’s an issue for me because when I took this gig I made a promise to keep it current and to always have a definitive point of view.

Well, what follows are some random thoughts that I may as well get off my chest. None of these things really warrant an entire column (yet) but they all have my interest,

Remember the story of the Emperor’s new clothes? Well that seems to be what is going on with American Idol. Major newscasts like the Today Show (who made my greatest list last week) are all saying that this kid Sanjaya Malakar can’t sing.

HELLO!!!!!????

Even before America stared to vote this kid beat out thousands of other singers to make it to the show. Now everyone is saying he can’t sing. Why? Because one person said he could not sing after one bad performance and now everybody is saying it. What is up with people? People are just sheep! He is clearly not the best singer on the show, but the kid can sing. Why are people such sheep? Why, why, why?

Sheep, sheep, sheep!

In other random thoughts, in case anyone is interested I will be speaking at the Biola Media Conference April 21st at Biola University and at Cal State Northridge on April 23rd. Maybe the person who sent me the angry email will want to come down and heckle me.

What angry email? The angry email that I was sent in response to The Black Panel article I wrote. They told me “You are a Uncle Tom who does not care about Black People. We have a right to be represented and you should let any black person on the panel who wants to be there.” They also said that I was…” one of those uppity (N-word) who only dates white woman!” (My Asian lady loved that one.)

Well, fellow and or gal (I don’t know what you are because you sent the email anonymously – how brave, by the way), if you are feeling strong come on down and take your best shot. Hey wait. Why don’t you speak at the conference or at Northridge. I’m sure they will just let you walk in off the street and talk about your work or whatever you want to talk about. I mean you are entitled right? Wait! Now that I think about, it why don’t you just walk on to the Tonight Show? I’m sure they will just let you be a guest. Wait! What am I thinking?? Why doesn’t ABC just do a special on you? I mean you have certainly earned the right to have your own show right? Wait, wait wait!!! Not a show –you deserve your own NETWORK!!! I mean why not? Wait, wait wait, wait, why don’t they just hand you your own galaxy?

(more…)

Another comic book movie for Nic Cage

News
April 6, 2007

AP is reporting that Nicolas Cage has signed to star in the movie adaptation of the Virgin comic The Sadhu. The movie’s script will be written by self-help maven Deepak Chopra, the father of Virgin’s chief creative officer Gotham Chopra, and is slated to be directed by Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (The Four Feathers).

Chopra the younger says, "Our goal is to start filming in India in early 2008," and explains a little about the title. "The sadhu is an iconic character. He is an Indian equivalent of the samurai. He is the spiritual warrior of the mind."

No word on whether flaming heads or motorcycles will be involved.

The Christmas Cottage movie

News
April 6, 2007

I never, never, never want to hear another complaint about adapting film from dumb comic books ever again. And if you’re tired of articles with headlines like "Pow! Zap! Wham! Comics movies aren’t just for kids" you don’t either. But now, you have a trump card to play – Hollywood is adapting movies from paintings.

Yes, paintings. Not painted comic books. Paintings.

First Showing shows us that Lions Gate is making a film based on a single painting by Thomas Kinkade, "painter of light" in the same way that Michael Jackson is the "king of pop," called The Christmas Cottage. Peter O’Toole has been cast in it. They note: "The film is partly biographical and based on events that led American painter Kinkade to become an artist." No word on whether they’ll include the FBI investigations or sexual harassment allegations – if Peter O’Toole’s in it, I suppose there’s a chance.

It’s shooting this month for the obvious December release, because this will be the film that gets O’Toole his Oscar.

Master of pulp fiction? It’s The Spider, man!

News
April 6, 2007

O.K. If this is a review, it’s of The Spider Chronicles, published by Moonstone Books, released this week, and written by all kinds of wonderful people including Steve Englehart, John Jakes, Ann Nocenti and Robert Weinberg – all under a nifty introduction by ComicMix columnist and gadfly-about-town Dennis O’Neil.

Having a full-time job right here at ComicMix, I’ve only had time to read half the stories thus far, but all were worthy of the task: translating into short story form the most bizarre and over-the-top hero of all time, period.

The concept can be barely contained in the novelette-length stories of the 1930s. In case you’re not familiar, let me ramble off some of my favorite story titles: King of the Red Killers. Slaves of the Murder Syndicate. The City That Dared Not Eat. Machine Guns Over The White House. Hell’s Sales Manager (I think I had that job once.) And my all-time favorite, The Mayor of Hell.

How can you beat titles like that? Only with execution that make those titles seem lame.

There’s usually one madman who pretty much looks like Charles Lane. We may or may not know who he is at the outset, but within several chapters he’s managed to paralyze the city (usually New York or Washington or both), if not indeed the whole quadrant of the nation, if not indeed the entire nation itself. By chapter six, the death count is enough to fill Yankee Stadium to the brim.

Only three people stand in the madman’s way: Nita Van Sloan, a woman as tough and clever as they come; Ran Singh, loyal, faithful assistant to The Spider and an ace at cutlery; and finally, wealthy playboy Richard Wentworth who likes to play the violin, not take advantage of the adoring Nita, and dress up in a variety of disguises – most notably in the monstrous visage of The Spider.

Wentworth’s the one who does the heavy lifting. He doesn’t mind killing each and every person he and he alone deems worthy of killing.

If you could hook your hybrid into a Spider story, the energy would drive you coast-to-coast and back again. Imagine the Kree / Skrull War with all the Kree and all the Skrulls on one side, three people on the other side, and all the battles taking place in an area no bigger than your bedroom.

There have been any number of Spider reprint projects going on, most notably the double-story ventures similar to Anthony Tolin’s Shadow and Doc Savage reprints (see Dennis O’Neil’s column here at ComicMix this week) as published by Girasol Collectibles (www.girasolcollectables.com/). They’re worth checking out.

But our friends at Moonstone have boldly ventured where no one’s gone for quite a while by commissioning these short stories by such famous authors. Given their length they might be sedate by “Grant Stockbridge” standards (the pseudonym under which all but the first novels were written). Pick up The Spider Chronicles. It’s the heroic ideal taken to its most bizarre limit.

Guy’s Choice Awards to air June 13

News
April 6, 2007

Because men have so little power in modern life, Spike TV will provide them a safe place to express their opinions this year when they present the first-ever Guy’s Choice Awards. Categories will include Best Asskicker (that’s what it says in the press release), Ballsiest Band, Hottest Girl on the Planet (Saturn Girl is not eligible), Luckiest M.F. (sic, again), Luckiest Bastard, Most Dangerous Man. They also promise to deliver a prize they call The Brass Balls Award to a legendary action hero.

Unlike any other program ever on television, Spike TV dares to feature what they describe as "unbelievably foxy trophy girls."

If you’re a guy and you never, ever get to have an opinion, vote, run for office, or run a branch of government, you can make yourself feel powerful by voting at www.spiketv.com. However, you’ll have to wait until May 1. All this authority goes away when voting closes on June 1.

The official sponsors are American Express, Cingular, Jeep, Pizza Hut, Snickers, Southern Comfort and the U.S. Army.

Berke Breathed helps police in murder investigation

News
April 6, 2007

The Associated Press reports that cartoonist Berkely Breathed is helping police in an unsolved 1979 murder of a young musician. Authorities believe the killer may have burglarized Breathed’s home when Breathed was a student at the University of Texas in Austin.

The cartoonist’s drawing of the burglary scene will be aired Saturday night on Fox’s America’s Most Wanted. "I had forgotten about it for many years," Breathed said Thursday in a telephone interview. "Once ‘America’s Most Wanted‘ called, I got angry about it all over again."

Cahill, 28, was shot to death April 13, 1979, when he confronted a burglar leaving his apartment with his guitar. The University of Texas dropout worked as a cook, but his main pursuit was a music career.

Driving up to his home with friends, he saw a man walking away with his guitar in its case. He jumped from the car, chased the man and was shot to death in his driveway. The killer escaped and was never identified.

Investigators believe the same person who shot Cahill had just broken into the apartment of a photographer in the same building.

Breathed, who now lives in Southern California, believes he surprised the intruder during the break-in at his Austin home about a week after the shooting. He said the burglar had stacked albums by his door, including Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

"The house was turned upside down, and it took a few minutes to understand what happened," he said.

Like similar break-ins at the time, the perpetrator seemed to be focused on a few selected items.

"He ended up killing a musician, and he was stealing music as well as photographs and photographic equipment," Breathed said. "There was this odd connection between the music and photographic community."

Happy Birthday, Hijinx

Birthdays
April 6, 2007

In 1982, Mike Gamble opened a comic book store in Willow Glen, California. Today, owned by Dan Shahin and renamed Hijinx Comics, the store is still open, still selling comics, and still entertaining the community.

Shahin started working at the store in 1986,when he was eleven years old. Paid in store credit, he sorted baseball cards and filed back issue. "Back when I first started working comics were 60 cents each and weren’t taxed, and Mike marked them down to 50 cents after a week to make sure they sold. That meant I was earning four comic books an hour to hang out in the greatest store I’d ever seen. I was in kid heaven," said Shahin. "Fast forward 20 years and I’m right back in the place where I was always happiest. I took what I learned from high tech and applied it to comics retailing. It’s the best decision I ever made

Shahin credits the store’s focus on customer service and broad selection as being the key to getting and retaining new customers in the face of competition from chain bookstores as well as multiple area specialty shops. Hijinx also features a book club program allowing customers to earn store credit for every book they purchase. Hijinx also recently launched www.comicbookshelf.com, a website devoted to reviewing, categorizing and selling graphic novels featuring

free domestic shipping or in-store pickup.

ComicMix applauds any comic book store that survives in today’s tough market, especially one that adapts and prospers.

Movie Auction sets record

News
April 6, 2007

The auction we told you last Friday (http://www.comicmix.com//news/2007/03/30/to-do-april-5-buy-superman-oz-props/) is over,and sold more than $2 million in props. Among the highlights of interest to ComicMix:

— SOLD $ 31,625.00 Lot 376. Original car from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland.

— SOLD $ 34,500.00 Lot 384. Illuminating model of the Nautilus submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

— SOLD $ 23,000.00 Lot 413. Hero costume w/rocket pack from The Rocketeer.

— SOLD $ 31,625.00 Lot 525. Yvonne Blake costume sketch of Superman from Superman: The Movie.

— SOLD $115,000.00 Lot 537. Christopher Reeve hero ‘Superman’ costume from Superman: The Movie.

— SOLD $ 26,560.00 Lot 545. Screen-used Kryptonite crystal from Superman III.

— SOLD $ 63,250.00 Lot 560. Val Kilmer ‘Batman’ costume from Batman Forever.

— SOLD $ 48,875.00 Lot 561. Alicia Silverstone ‘Batgirl’ costume from the Ice Cave battle in Batman Forever.

— SOLD $ 40,250.00 Lot 566. Wolverine hero claws worn by Hugh Jackman in X2: X-Men United.

— SOLD $ 34,500.00 Lot 591. Early Leonard Nimoy "Spock" tunic from the first season of Star Trek.

— SOLD $126,500.00 Lot 631. H.R. Giger Alien creature suit on display from Alien.

— SOLD $ 40,250.00 Lot 640. Jedi Master stunt fighting lightsaber from SW: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

— SOLD $ 69,000.00 Lot 641. Golden headpiece of "Staff of Ra" from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Wonder Woman on the radio

News / Previews
April 6, 2007

Trey Songz will release his second album, Trey Day, June 12, via Songbook/Atlantic Records. The lead single from the album will be “Wonder Woman,” which features production from Danja. You can get a preview at his website, www.treysongz.com/

MARTHA THOMASES: Why I love the Legion

News
April 6, 2007

It was in early 1980 when I realized what I geek I had turned into. The night before, I had a dream. My dream was not the inspirational kind like Martin Luther King, Jr., nor the poetic kind that Neil Gaiman would later spin into a career that brings happiness to millions.

I had a geek dream.

In my dream, the Ramones tried out for the Legion of Super-Heroes, and were turned down because Legion rules didn’t allow for more than one person to have the same super-power, which, in this case, was being a Ramone. I no longer remember precisely who turned them down, but I do remember Bouncing Boy suggesting they join the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Joey wanted to, but Dee Dee refused.

Then I woke up.

I read my first Legion story in Jamestown, New York, visiting my grandparents in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I had what must have been an Adventure comic, with a story about the adult Legion of Super-Villains fighting Superman, and the adult Legion of Super-Heroes joining in. My grandparents, while lovely people, were very boring, and I dove into that comic as a way of avoiding Lawrence Welk on television. Luckily, this eight-page story had plenty to mesmerize a young girl. Cosmic King versus Cosmic Man! Lightning Lord versus Lightning Man! Saturn Queen versus Saturn Woman! The villains had regal names while the heroes had descriptive names. Clearly, ego and a class system must be what turned people bad.

Over the next several decades, I read as many Legion stories as I could. I loved the variety of powers these kids had (Matter-Eater Lad!), and that they had a meetings where they could gather and sit behind desks, with title cards that explained their abilities, in case they forgot. (“I’m Invisible Kid, but I don’t know what I do. Oh, here it says on my name-plate. I can turn invisible!”)

But mostly, I loved that they had a clubhouse.